Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) Read online

  Janus – The Arrival

  By Stephen Harding

  JANUS – THE ARRIVAL

  Copyright: Stephen Harding

  Published: September 2013

  Publisher: Stephen Harding

  The right of Stephen Harding to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

  This book is dedicated to my family and friends, especially my wife Celia and my son’s Ross and Peter along with anyone who has personally suffered from or has helped with infertility or brain injuries.

  Special thanks to Noreen who has provided feedback for each chapter and kept me motivated with the editing, which I only attempted many years later having read Stephen King’s book - On Writing.

  Last but not least, love to blues legend and friend of more than thirty years, Maggie Bell for allowing me to add a little tribute to her in the book.

  Also by the same author:

  JANUS - The Offspring

  Book 2 of the Trilogy

  JANUS - The Sandlings

  Book 3 of the Trilogy

  www.amazon.com/author/stephen.harding

  www.amazon.co.uk/author/stephen.harding

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1 – Hard Birth

  CHAPTER 2 – Young Love

  CHAPTER 3 – The Chosen One

  CHAPTER 4 – Nectar of Acceptance

  CHAPTER 5 – Origin Unknown

  CHAPTER 6 - Meditation

  CHAPTER 7 – Deposits

  CHAPTER 8 – Ray Gun Killer

  CHAPTER 9 – Mixed Conquests

  CHAPTER 10 – A Dra-Na-Zee

  CHAPTER 11 – The Clinic

  CHAPTER 12 – Two Faces

  CHAPTER 13 – Yellow Lights

  CHAPTER 14 – A Truce

  CHAPTER 15 – Floating Under Moonlight

  CHAPTER 16 - Kidnap

  CHAPTER 17 – The Lookout

  CHAPTER 18 - Pagos

  CHAPTER 19 – The Duke

  CHAPTER 20 – Burning Barn

  CHAPTER 21 – Newborns

  CHAPTER 22 – Gang Life

  CHAPTER 23 – Body Bag

  CHAPTER 24 - Trapped

  CHAPTER 25 - Escape

  EPILOGUE

  JANUS THE OFFSPRING - PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1 – Dana’s Dreams

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  PROLOGUE

  There was extreme panic as the inhabitants of Pagos faced the reality of what was about to happen. Intense light caused instant blindness to those remaining on the planet’s surface. That was very short lived however, as they each experienced the contents of their bodies being sucked out by a high pressured vacuum, just before their fleshy remains were literally turned inside out.

  From the dark side of the planet a small life capsule was jettisoned. This occurred, just moments before the planet exploded into billions of tiny particles that scattered into the surrounding universe.

  Destination……….Earth

  Year…………….1978

  On the outskirts of Clapham - Twenty years later

  The moon was half full at its highest peak in the cloudless night sky. An unseen figure watched from the shadows of the dingy underpass as a woman attempted to walk past a gang of youths who’d been standing around annoying passers-by.

  Insults were hurled in her direction, but she nervously tried to ignore them and continue on her way.

  ‘You ugly cow!’ chanted one of the girls.

  ‘Ugly cow, ugly cow!’ the others taunted in unison, as they gradually closed in on her.

  ‘I suggest you leave her alone!’ ordered the stranger, as he casually stepped from the shadows.

  The woman gazed up in awe. His face appeared to be partially concealed by an expensive looking scarf, but his deep blue eyes were absolutely mesmerizing to look at. Yet, they also held an unmistakable cruelness that automatically sent a shiver racing right down her spine.

  ‘Go!’ he shouted, and she knew better than to stop and argue.

  The gang consisted of four boys and two girls. They stepped forward as one, as the woman finally disappeared from view. She’d automatically headed towards the main road and hadn’t dared look back.

  ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ demanded the leader, as he reached in and pulled a knife from his jacket pocket.

  ‘Go home while you still have the chance.’ the man replied, showing no sign of fear.

  Unperturbed, the leader advanced. He launched the blade directly towards the man’s face. The stranger quickly swayed to the right. He totally wrong footed the youth, while an arc of bright yellow light erupted from his eyes, wrenching the blade clear of his attacker’s hand. The youth screamed. He fell to his knees while the knife innocently clattered against the concrete pathway. His gang had already turned and fled in different directions, fearing for their own lives. They’d acted like chickens with their heads cut off and their leader realised just how selfish they were.

  The boy happened to be extremely lucky on this occasion, as he rose to his feet and ran sobbing after his so-called friends.

  In the meantime, the stranger had already slipped back into the darkness of the shadows.

  CHAPTER 1 – Hard Birth

  Having decided to give up on their chances of ever having children after years of professional counselling and guidance, John and Emma Storm were completely devastated. This followed a vicious miscarriage that had resulted in tubal damage and internal scarring to Emma’s body. A series of secondary tests had confirmed their worst fears; having been informed they would remain a childless couple. It had been a very difficult time for the pair of them, as their emotions had naturally been thrown into complete turmoil. Yet true to form, they’d fully supported each other through the darkest of times, which now appeared to lay behind them.

  Emma sat up in bed and stretched, before attempting to bash a new lease of life into the hospital pillows. These had seemed to have plagued her from day one. The woman was seen as a truly remarkable woman by many, having stunned the local doctors, and eventually most of the medical profession who’d heard about it. This had been achieved by giving birth to a healthy baby boy on October 18th 1978 in Queen Mary’s Hospital, London, against all the odds.

  It was an extremely emotional time for both her and her husband John, who stood beside her bedside in the peaceful surroundings of the private room. This had been set aside for them, on orders of the ward sister, due to all the attention they’d been getting, along with some of the disruption it had been causing. The room was also somewhat overflowing, with a rather large array of flowers, whose fragrances spilled out through the glass fronted door whenever it was opened.

  Nothing had gone straightforward during the birth. This was mainly due to fact that the foetus had grown so large in size during the latter part of her pregnancy, which had also been picked up and recorded on the hospital scanner. What also didn’t help was the fact that the couple were becoming increasingly irritable, as they were hiding an extremely deep secret between themselves.

  On the day of delivery everything appeared to be going according to plan, with a young trainee doctor named Dean, standing ready to help the midwife. This was to be his first hands-on delivery, which according to the older students, would be one of the most memor
able moments of his life.

  Helping to deliver a baby was classed as a necessary part of his training to become a full-time doctor, even though his main ambition in life was to become a surgeon at a top London hospital. He was also fully aware of the special interest surrounding this rather unusual case. Therefore, it was fairly understandable why he felt so nervous, despite knowing that a full back-up team would be close at hand, should anything happen to go wrong.

  Sticking to her breathing routine, Emma felt the contractions coming on a more regular basis. An examination by the midwife had shown the dilation of the cervix to be at approximately ten centimetres. However, after suffering a certain degree of discomfort in her lower regions soon after, she was instantly supplied with regular doses of gas and air by Dean, who’s every move, was being overseen by the busy midwife.

  At first everything appeared to be fine, until Emma began to scream with pain. The midwife looked increasingly concerned as she glanced over at the screen that monitored the baby’s heartbeat. She immediately realised that something was seriously wrong, especially when Emma let out the most inhumane scream, as she felt something rip open deep down inside. A hot searing sensation passed through her lower abdomen. Then large droplets of blood started to weep quite heavily from between her legs.

  Paediatricians’ laden down with emergency equipment arrived within minutes of being alerted. They entered through the door in a well controlled rush and instantly took control. Emma, whose contractions were coming fast and furious, then felt her husband’s hand go slack.

  Turning to face him, she watched with great concern as he disappeared from view and fainted to the floor. It was so strange to witness a grown man collapse, which he later explained was because he thought he was about to lose both her and the baby. Yet, she’d simply gazed into his face and smiled at him, having realised, that had the roles been reversed, then she too would probably have done exactly the same thing.

  Dean was suddenly tasked with the job of looking after John. He helped the man outside and sat him down on one of the plastic chairs located on a grassy area of the hospital gardens. Once this had been achieved, he then instructed him to take a few deep breaths, while placing his head down between his knees, just as he’d been taught a few weeks earlier.

  ‘Oh well!’ Dean exclaimed, ‘So much for my first delivery!’

  Due to the baby being so big, and along with the amount of blood being lost from its mother, the doctors decided to opt for a forceps delivery. Every second lost was becoming more and more crucial.

  Six minutes later a large slippery mass was successfully pulled from the opening and gathered up by the midwife, before eventually being placed into the resuscitation unit. Once the baby’s lungs had been effectively cleared of mucus, with the team standing by in the background, the Paediatrician stopped what he was doing and reached over to switch off the machine. He then turned, with a beaming smile across his face, and announced that she now had a healthy looking baby boy. The man then handed him gently into Emma’s waiting arms before setting about dealing with the afterbirth.

  With John having eventually returned to the room, having missed the birth but already briefed on the news, the elation on the proud parent’s faces had to be seen to be believed. Tears of joy flowed freely, just as expected from such an amazing event. Emma was then administered a quick dose of Pethidine. She waited patiently for the pain to subside, while the Paediatrician began the next task of cleaning her up and repairing the torn areas. Eventually, once he was more than happy that she appeared to be well, he peered over at Emma and stated.

  ‘In all the years I’ve been doing this. That was honestly the strangest delivery I’ve ever witnessed. It almost seemed as if the baby had caused the damage out of spite!’

  The tired parents looked to each other in disbelief. It was all starting to come true, just as they’d been warned during that fateful night when they’d realised that things would never quite be the same again.

  All of that had happened during a cold, rainy night back in January when Emma and John had been returning home and driving quite peacefully past Wimbledon Common. They had just enjoyed a night out at the cinema when something had suddenly thudded hard against the front section of their car. Emma had naturally assumed it had been an animal of some kind, as that was just the sort of thing you could expect to happen in this particular area. John un-strapped his seatbelt and climbed out of the car wondering what he’d find. He walked back along the road they’d just driven along, and was busy fiddling with the zipper on his jacket, when an unexpected movement up ahead suddenly caught his eye. He attempted to focus on what it could possibly be. At first he could just make out the spherical shape of a dark object through the rain, but as he drew closer, he noticed that it appeared to be hovering slightly above the ground. Standing rooted to the spot, and a little unsure about what to do next, John could only gaze in amazement as it gradually rose up to a height of approximately twenty feet. By now his eyesight had adjusted well enough for him to notice another, much larger object moving around in the background. Nothing happened for the next few seconds, although he sensed an incredibly eerie sort of silence surrounding him as he backed away somewhat cautiously.

  Unable to remove his gaze from the scene, much as anyone else would under such circumstances, he gradually retraced his steps until he was close enough to the side of the car to call for Emma to come and join him.

  The pair of them stood huddled together outside, completely unsure of what it was that they were actually witnessing, when suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, the whole sky just lit up around them. Their immediate reactions were to put a hand up each, and shield the glare from their eyes. Yet after a few minutes they’d both adjusted well enough to see properly. They noticed both objects appeared to be communicating in some way, sending out strange strobe-like signals in what could only be described as a pulsating sequence. The speed at which this was occurring was almost too fast to keep up with, and it was quite concerting at first. John and Emma gazed ahead and were completely entranced, before realising their feet had somehow become firmly rooted to the ground. It was a strange sensation by all accounts, and feeling completely vulnerable as they both stood out in the open like lambs to the slaughter, the smaller object began to move towards them. It wasn’t too long until it was positioned directly overhead and suddenly it all felt very menacing.

  The craft dwarfed the two humans. They stood staring upwards in all their innocence, when without any warning, a huge beam of light emanated from its vast undercarriage and began to pulsate in a range of colours they’d never imagined possible. This cast flickering shadows here and there, creating a wondrous illusion of exotic figures that danced about like a scene from a children’s fairy-tale. Emma was totally immersed in the whole amazing spectacle. She felt absolutely full of joy, with not a single care in the world on her mind. She was also very close to tears for some reason, and her deepest emotions soon began to well up deep inside her. These suddenly came flooding to the surface, leaving her totally out of control.

  Then the poor woman felt herself being forced to move closer and closer as something urged her on.

  Unable to turn his head in any way, shape or form, John could only stand and watch what was going on from the corner of his eye. He then felt a slight trickle of liquid appear upon his face, before he realised that his nose had started to bleed. Unfortunately, he was also unable to reach for a handkerchief to stem the flow. Eventually, managing to cast his eyes back towards the figure of his wife, he could quite clearly hear her sobbing as her feet literally left the ground. It was all so surreal, and yet there she was being drawn up towards the light. John felt extremely frustrated that he was being forced to watch and yet could do nothing to help. He was wondering what on earth could possibly follow next, when he was suddenly caught by something very powerful and flung headlong towards the ground. A strong yellow beam had shot from the side of the spaceship and hit him full force in the chest. Hi
s whole body shook under the pressure. This appeared to increase with each passing moment, and he screamed in absolute agony. He was also fully aware that something was messing around with the inside of his head, which sought out, and with great skill, located the entire contents of his mind.

  Emma could only gaze downwards and watch in stunned silence as her husband’s body thrashed about on the ground, before finally coming to a halt in a rather undignified heap against the far kerb. At first she thought he was possibly dead, but was extremely relieved to see a few faint signs of movement, before she eventually lost sight of him, and realised she was entering the inside of the spaceship.

  The pain was undeniably excruciating at first. Emma was consciously aware that she was lying strapped to some sort of operating table with the coloured lights having been deployed to lull her into a false sense of security, prior to any of what was going on. She too had suffered the intrusive feeling of something probing around deep inside her head. She’d tried to scream at the top of her voice, but the effort was completely wasted. No sound could be heard at all. What appeared as a strange, empty void had opened up around her as soon as any noise had been detected. This had simply captured each of the sound waves, before floating into oblivion.

  When she finally regained consciousness, amazed at the fact that she was still alive, and aware of what was going on around her, she found her eyelids stung quite irritatingly. Bright daylight flooded in through the car windows and it took a few moments for her to register exactly where she was. Emma then gazed over at the prone figure of her husband sitting beside her all hunched up, which looked very uncomfortable indeed. Having realised that he was not only breathing but also happened to be snoring slightly, she immediately leaned across and shook him awake. John came round pretty quickly, and he could tell from the sullen expression on Emma’s face, that it had not been the terrible dream that he’d hoped. Although he was elated with the fact that Emma was still alive and sitting right beside him, the short journey home proved to be a very odd one indeed. They were obviously both in a state of shock, and yet neither of them felt a single need to mutter any words whatsoever. Once indoors the two of them could only just manage to sit staring blankly across the kitchen table. They gazed out of the bay window that overlooked the rear garden, with cups of tea sitting totally untouched beside them.